


The Color of Your Eyes

by MalSpinningYarns



Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-04-15
Packaged: 2018-10-19 01:50:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,242
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10629678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MalSpinningYarns/pseuds/MalSpinningYarns
Summary: Born in a world where you only see color once you see your soulmate, Richard begins to see color when he starts working at Hooli.  The only problem is he doesn't know who his soulmate is.





	

**Author's Note:**

> It's a Soulmate Color AU! (or a retelling of the pilot with a soulmate color AU). I've been wanting to do this for a while, so I whipped this together.
> 
> Most of the dialogue comes from episode 1X01. I did not write it.

For all of his life, all Richard knew was black, white, and gray. Growing up, he would hear the story of his parents meeting at their college bookstore and suddenly the world bursting into colors. “I saw her blue eyes- finally seeing that beautiful color- and I knew she was my soulmate,” his dad would say. Mom would laugh and mention his hideous neon green shirt and Dad would laugh and defend his shirt because “I’d never seen the actual color before”.

 

Richard constantly heard stories like that. Kids he went to school with first saw colors when they first met their soulmate in a sixth grade math class or when a new student moved into the school system. His sister Ellie called him crying tears of joy after meeting Scott on her first day working as a teacher. He was always happy for them, but felt lonely himself.

 

Granted, finally seeing colors after meeting your soulmate wasn’t perfect. People tended to think heteronormatively. For years, the people at his school thought the soul mates were Tiffany Holbrooke and Ryan Johnson and Rebecca Greenberg and Josh Howard when they all met in first grade. At prom, Tiffany figured out her soul mate was actually Rebecca, so that meant Ryan’s soulmate was Josh. Some people never found their soulmate. Some people knew who their soulmate was, but refused to acknowledge them. Some people left their soulmate after a while. Hell, some people were born seeing color. Many people lived perfectly happy lives never seeing color. It was a very divisive issue.

 

Personally, Richard didn’t have strong feelings one way or the other. While he wouldn’t mind having someone perfect for him, he thought he could live with seeing grays, white, and black. It’s all he knew anyway.

 

Not long after Richard started working at Hooli, he started seeing colors. Well, not all colors. It was… complicated.

 

The first incident occurred during his third month of employment at Hooli. Richard was taking lunch break outside when a large group of people on some sort of tour passed. He awkwardly made eye contact with a few people. After a few moments, he noticed the “lawn” had changed. It wasn’t gray anymore. It was an extremely light, faded color. _Green_ his mind told him. Richard was confused. He hadn’t met anyone. How could see a color?

 

He quickly pulled out his phone and did a Google search. _How can I see a color without meeting anyone?_

 

The first result seemed to be what he was looking for. After skimming, he got the gist: sometimes people see one color or two when they see their soulmate- especially at a far distance- but don’t actually meet them. It happened in larger cities fairly often, but it was still a rare gene that not everyone had.

 

So someone in that group must be his soulmate. But the real question was: who?

From that point on, he saw a few more colors. They were never vivid. The problem was it was never when he passed someone alone. He started seeing red after walking past a large group headed towards a “voluntary” group activity. He then saw blue after looking out the window of the Hooli shuttle and seeing people leaving for their cars.

 

He tried not to let the color thing bother him. It wasn’t easy. Eventually he became too distracted by the possibility of being kicked out of the incubator to worry about meeting his soul mate. His life became Pied Piper.

 

Then, the Big Day happened. He got called to meet Gavin Belson about Pied Piper. Gavin offered him money. A lot of money. Then Peter Gregory called and also offered him money and then the possibility of leaving Hooli. It was all very exciting and confusing that he had to leave. He could feel the panic attack forcing its way up.

 

By the time he neared the end of his clinic visit Richard noticed something strange.

 

“Oh shit, I can see color,” he breathed.

 

“Well congratulations, Richard. A soulmate and a big choice all in one day. Take the money? Start your company? And where does a soulmate come in? Oh boy, do I not want to be in your shoes,” the doctor said.

 

Richard threw up again.

 

Who did he meet today? He had to rack his brain to go through the excitement. There was Jared, Patrice, and the two other guys. Oh shit, what if his soulmate was _Gavin Belson_? His stomach turned at the thought.

 

Meeting Monica outside the clinic helped in one aspect: he knew he couldn’t work for Gavin. Even if he could be his soulmate. Richard just couldn’t stand the Hooli culture. It was so _fake_.

So Peter it was then.

 

At the extremely small Pied Piper launch party, Richard noticed shuffling outside the window of the incubator. He recognized the man waving through the window as Jared Dunn. His stomach gave a weird flutter.

 

Richard headed towards the door and opened it. Jared was smiling and holding a bottle of champagne. He had big, blue eyes.

 

“Hey. Sorry if I scared you. I know I have some ghostlike features. My uncle used to say ‘You look like someone starved a virgin to death’,” Jared said with a smile.

 

Richard shuffled awkwardly. “Huh, yeah. I can see it.”

 

Jared looked over Richard’s shoulder with a confused look. Dinesh, Gilfoyle, and Big Head were watching their interaction. “I heard you were having a launch party?” he asked

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Am I early?

 

“No.”

 

“Oh, well then, a gift of congratulations,” Jared said offering the bottle in his hands.

 

“Well, if gave sent you, you should know I went with Peter Gregory. I’m actually picking up my check tomorrow. So I made my decision,” Richard explained with an awkward determination.   


“Oh, that’s not why I’m here, Richard,” Jared said. His cheeks were pink. Was he blushing?

 

“Then wh-why are you here?” Richard could start to feel where this was going.

 

“Certainly you know why Richard?” Jared said softly. Richard shook his head ‘no’. Now he was also blushing. “I guess this was a wild day for you,” Jared said with a small laugh, “You’re my soulmate. I started seeing color when I saw you sitting there, waiting for Gavin. And then you turned him down and I had never seen anything so brave and-“

 

“What the fuck is he doing here?” Erlich demanded stomping into the entryway.

 

“It’s not what you’re thinking, Erlich. Gavin didn’t send him,” Richard rushed out, “He’s my soulmate.”

 

He swore he might have heard Jared give some sort small squeal. Jared was still beaming anyway.

 

“You mean to tell me this corporate douchebag is your fucking soulmate?” Erlich’s disbelief was evident. “What is he? A pair of pleated khakis come to life?”

 

“No, his name is Jared and h-he’s my soulmate and I’d like to get to know him better, s-so he’s coming in,” Richard tried saying in his bravest voice, but he’s pretty sure his voice broke a few times.

 

“Alright then,” Erlich said. Then he turned to Jared, “I swear if you’re here to be a nark for Gavin Belson, I’ll make sure you never see colors again. Got it?”

 

Jared made himself smaller. “Yes, sir,” he said meekly. Erlich took the bottle out of his hands and walked away.

 

Richard turned to Jared and smiled. “C’mon Jared,” he said, “let’s get to know each other better.”


End file.
